What’s happening in Spain? 41 dead as up to 60,000 migrants storm Ceuta border from Morocco

5 min readUpdated: Jul 31, 2026 08:11 PM IST Migrants from Morocco gather by the border fence as they cross the Spanish border, swimming through the sea, as seen from Ceuta, Spain, July 31, 2026. (Source: @nextbrief/X) Spain rushed to contain one of the biggest migration crises in its recent history on Friday after up to 60,000 migrants crossed into the North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco within 24 hours, overwhelming local authorities and leaving at least 41 people dead in desperate attempts to reach European territory. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who travelled to Ceuta on Friday, described the mass crossing as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity” and blamed human trafficking networks for encouraging thousands of migrants to risk the dangerous journey.“The traf